Briscoe grabs pole for IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone 550k

Briscoe, driving the No. 6 Team Penske Honda, recorded a top lap speed clocked at 215.273 mph.

This was Briscoe’s first pole at Texas Motor Speedway and the second this season. He earned the pole at Kansas earlier this year and today’s pole marks the 10th of his IndyCar Series career.

Courtesy photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Ryan Briscoe of Australia, driver of the #6 Team Penske Dallara Honda, celebrates in victory lane after winning the pole position during qualifying for the IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone 550k at Texas Motor Speedway.

“It’s a great feeling to get the pole here,” Briscoe said. “I have to thank Dario (Franchitti) for falling off a bit on his last lap. It’s going to be a long race, and hopefully we can keep the No. 6 Team Penske car up front.”

Briscoe will lead a 26-car field to the starting line on Saturday when the IZOD IndyCar Series takes the green flag for the Firestone 550k. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen live on VERSUS.

Also starting on the front row next to Briscoe will be Dario Franchitti, the winner of last week’s Indy 500. Franchitti was the second fastest after recording a speed of 215.261 mph.

“It wasn’t a bad run,” Franchitti said. “I am actually a little surprised that we ran as quick as we did because in practice the qualifying setup wasn’t anywhere close to that.”

Photo courtesy of Donald Miralle/Getty Images

Ryan Briscoe of Australia drives the #6 Team Penske Dallara Honda during practice for the IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone 550k at Texas Motor Speedway.

The weather was a huge factor today during qualifying. Outside temperatures hovered around 95 degrees all afternoon and the track temperature was 106 degrees at the time of qualifying.

“Racing in this heat it definitely does not make it easy like everyone thinks it is,” Briscoe said. “It’s going to be a challenging race.”

If Briscoe wins on Saturday, it will be his first victory at Texas Motor Speedway and his first win of the 2010 season. His last victory occurred at Chicagoland Speedway in 2009.

Will Power and Scott Dixon will occupy the second row, followed by last year’s Bombardier Learjet 550k winner Helio Castroneves and Alex Lloyd on the third row.

Photo courtesy of Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Ryan Briscoe of Australia, driver of the #6 Team Penske Dallara Honda, is given the pole helmet award in victory lane by Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage after winning the pole position during qualifying for the IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone 550k at Texas Motor Speedway.

“The Verizon car was very good today,” Power said. “I think qualifying really means something here because I think it’s going to be tough to pass tomorrow. It was a great day overall for Team Penske and we’re looking forward to a great race tomorrow.”

Castroneves was also pleased with Team Penske’s performance and is hoping for a strong finish on Saturday night.

“We were trying everything we could today in the Team Penske car,” Castroneves said. “We improved on our speed from practice but Ryan just had a great car here and I congratulate him and the team on winning the pole.”

Castroneves added, “We feel we are in good shape for the race tomorrow. It’s going to be a hot one for sure. Hopefully, we will have a different result tomorrow from Indy last weekend.”

Hideki Mutoh qualified seventh and Danica Patrick will start eighth.

“I’m really happy with our qualifying run,” Patrick said. “It’s not very often that you are faster in qualifying than in practice, but we were. We will make a few adjustments before tomorrow night, but other than that, I’m really happy with the GoDaddy car.”